When All Else Fails
by Mell Kamiyana
Summary: There are few things fetching as a bruised ego on a beautiful angel. [Cowritten with Exodus Penguin. Lexzie with implied Addisex. Minor CaGe, MerDer, Bang]


Mell: This is a story cowritten by me and ExodusPenguin, alias Dan. We were bored, and go struck with the inspiration to write a fanfic.

Disclaimer: We do not own anything except the plot idea.

Description: "Karev and Montgomery. In the closet, of all places!" she giggled crazily, throwing up her arms in bewilderment. "I baked muffins because of Karev." "Oh Izzie."

Without further ado, the story:

Bandages, gauze, gloves and tubes fell from their respective shelves in the infamous supply closet. As more littered the previously barren tile, they continued in their closeted romance, carelessly knocking over anything in their way. A tan, calloused hand tangled in fiery red hair as her long, slender fingers worked at the buttons in his shirt. Within a matter of seconds his shirt was discarded into the collection gathering on the floor, and her slim blouse followed soon after. With heavy breaths, eyes met and lips locked. A delicate tangle of passion and lust soon ensued.

Sitting up with a start, her hands immediately grasped at the covers and threw them back, only to find that there was not a half naked man there. What the _hell_ had that just been about? Defeated, the blonde sitting in the bed reverted back to a lying position as she threw her hands in the air. "Seriously?" she exclaimed. "Seriously?!" Reluctantly, she dragged herself out of bed and began searching for her clothes. A discarded blouse in an abandoned corner of the room seemed to offer itself to the desperate blonde. She was unprepared, however, for the sudden wave of realization that stunned her for a moment. A discarded blouse, the dream... Her thoughts were only momentarily interrupted by a voice coming from her door, "You okay, Izzie?"

"What?" she said, reaching for a pair of blue jeans. "Yeah, I'm fine, it was nothing. Nothing at all. Just a dream...a bad dream, nightmare or whatever. I'm fine."

Meredith - the owner of the voice at the door - frowned in worry, "You're sure? You were yelling."

"Me? I was yelling?" Rattled, she finished dressing and gave Meredith a fake smile. "No. I only yell when I'm upset, or angry, not when I wake up from a dream. A vivid, awful dream," said through gritted teeth and same smile. "We're late. No time for, 'Hey, how are you?' So come on."

As Izzie pulled on her long sleeved shirt on her way down the hall, Meredith merely stared at her retreating back.

"What was that all about?" Derek enquired, appearing behind Meredith. His gaze traveled to where she was still staring, despite Izzie having disappeared long ago.

"Oh, just Izzie. Something about a dream." Meredith looked up at the smiling face of McDreamy. "Why are you happy?" she asked meekly, herself grinning.

Derek, or more infamously known as McDreamy, smiled down at her, "Me? I'm always happy." At her inquiring face, he simply bent down and kissed her, quieting all inquisitions.

"I have to get ready, but I will see you at work," he offered, slinking away to the bedroom.

Downstairs, Izzie had retreated to her favorite place - the kitchen. Quickly, she snatched a bagel and rapidly began smearing it with cream cheese.

"What, no homemade breakfast?" Alex quipped, appearing in the kitchen moments after Izzie. Prone to taking his sweet time getting ready, Alex was clad only in gray sweatpants and a black wife beater top. A top, Izzie noted duefully, that showed off his very toned torso.

With a narrowing of her chocolate brown eyes, Izzie simply threw the packaged bagels at him, "This isn't a maid service, Alex."

Playing off her anger, Alex simply smirked, "Really, because I've got an outfit upstairs..."

Izzie shoved the bagel in her mouth, "Family heirloom?"

He smirked, pulling out a bagel of his own and taking a bite of it plain, "Why don't you come find out."

"And risk contriving a disease in that filthy room of yours? Sorry, not worth the risk."

Laughing, Alex merely tossed the bag back at the blonde and disappeared from the kitchen. Off to get ready, Izzie assumed. Finished off the rest of her bagel, she cleaned the small mess she'd made. Her eyes traveled to the eggs in the refridgerator, then to the milk, and the butter. All three items were on the counter moments later, and the sugar would have been next if Meredith hadn't appeared downstairs.

"What's wrong?" Her voice was concerned, but also mildly amused. Izzie was baking. She was baking and they had to be at work in twenty minutes.

Undeterred, Izzie began cracking and pouring. "Wrong? Why would anything be wrong? I'm allowed to make muffins. I pay rent in this house, I pay for groceries. If I want to make muffins, I can make muffins." The pan was already on its way to the oven by the time she had finished.

"We officially have 15 minutes until we have to be at a hospital saving lives and you are in the kitchen baking muffins, Izzie. What's wrong?" Meredith was relentless, knowing she'd find out what was bothering her sooner or later.

Ignoring Meredith's worried look, Izzie turned the oven on. It needed to preheat before she baked, and the faster it heated up the better. Blinking as she finished setting the temperature, her thoughts were again drawn back to her dream, where things had also heated up quickly.

Shaking her head, she let go of the dial and mixed in the sugar. This was not the way to start out her morning.

Striding down the stairs, Derek peered over Meredith's shoulder to witness what was happening in the kitchen.

"Izzie's baking," he half-whispered in Meredith's ear. She simply nodded her head. "Now?" he asked, confused.

Meredith nodded again, "Now."

A small beeping sound came from Derek's pocket. "I've gotta go. I'll see you at work," Derek quietly announced. Leaning over, he stole a quick kiss from Meredith.

"Bye," Meredith said, watching as Derek left the house. As soon as the door clicked, Meredith turned back to the baking blonde. "Alright Izzie, spill."

Agitated, Izzie threw off her oven mitt and started pacing, "Do you think Dr. Montgomery

is, you know, involved with anyone?"

Meredith's eyebrows rose at Izzie's seemingly random question. Being no stranger to having issues dealing with the red headed neonatal surgeon, Meredith jumped to the obvious conclusion - Addison and Derek were involved and Izzie knew. "Why would you need to know that?"

"It's just..." she trailed off. "The dream, and she was, with him, and-" The oven beeped, cutting off the conversation momentarily. "I'll get that!" Izzie hollered, effortlessly replacing the mitt and removing the muffins.

Meredith stared after the blonde. The dream had been about Derek and Addison? That was what Izzie was so worked up about? "I'm sure it was just a dream, Izzie," she reassured her friend.

As if on cue, Alex reappeared downstairs, no longer in his makeshift pajama's from earlier. "You made muffins?" He asked, reaching out to grab one of the hot pastries.

"Yes, I did make muffins," she assured him nervously. "No need for that outfit after all, huh?"

His mouth half full of muffin, Alex nodded, "We'll see if we can't put it to use. I'm off to work." Raising one hand in goodbye, Alex grabbed his jacket and keys, shutting the door a little too hard on his way out.

"Okay," Izzie relented as soon as the door had shut. "Karev and Montgomery. In the closet, of all places!" she giggled crazily, throwing up her arms in bewilderment. "I baked muffins because of Karev," she admitted, snatching a muffin of her own.

"Karev as in Alex Karev, the Seattle Grace intern?" Meredith blurted, feeling silly for ever thinking the man in question was Derek.

"No, Karev as in the paper boy down the street. Yes, Meredith, Alex Karev." Izzie exclaimed, exasperated.

Watching her frantic friend with worried eyes, Meredith shook her head a little. "Oh Izzie."


End file.
